But he won't win the nomination. Too many flip flops.
Posted on 01/05/2008 9:17:20 PM PST by americanophile
Romney Wins Wyoming Caucuses By MEAD GRUVER – 7 hours ago
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) — Mitt Romney captured his first win of the Republican presidential race, gaining most of Wyoming's delegates at stake in GOP caucuses on Saturday.
The former Massachusetts governor won seven delegates, former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson got two and California Rep. Duncan Hunter won one, meaning no other candidate could beat Romney. Caucuses were still being held to decide all 12 delegates at stake.
The win was a boost for Romney, coming two days after his loss to Mike Huckabee in the Iowa caucuses and three days before the first-in-the-nation primary in New Hampshire. Those two states have attracted most of the political attention. Wyoming had scheduled its GOP county conventions earlier to attract candidates to the state but had only modest results.
Romney visited Wyoming in August and November and three of his five sons campaigned in the state. One son, Josh Romney, owns a ranch in southwest Wyoming.
"Number one, he campaigned here," delegate Leigh Vosler of Cheyenne said of Romney. "I think that helped while some other candidates ignored us. But also he's the right person for the job."
Hunter, Thompson and Ron Paul all stopped by the state — visits they probably wouldn't have made except for this year's early conventions — and candidates have sent Wyoming's GOP voters a flood of campaign mail. Huckabee, the former Arkansas governor, did not visit Wyoming and drew little support. Arizona Sen. John McCain and former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani also did not visit and received little support.
"I think we're encouraged that the voters in Wyoming value that my dad had spent time here," Josh Romney said.
The traditional leadoff nomination contests in Iowa and New Hampshire have dominated the attention of both candidates and the national media in recent months, and no candidates had visited Wyoming in the four weeks leading up to the caucuses. Hunter was the last to visit the state on Dec. 4.
Tom Sansonetti, the county convention organizer, maintained Saturday that moving the state's caucuses ahead was the right thing to do.
"The ultimate goal is not how many times we appear on Katie Couric," Sansonetti said. "The ultimate goal was to have attention paid to rank-and-file Republicans by national candidates."
In addition, he said more Wyoming Republicans have become involved in the process.
Wyoming Republicans also paid a price for jumping ahead. The Republican National Committee has slashed half of Wyoming's 28 national convention delegates. National party leaders similarly penalized Florida, Michigan, New Hampshire and South Carolina for moving up the dates of their nomination contests.
RNC rules require the punishment for states that hold their nominating contests earlier than Feb. 5. Iowa, which held caucuses on Thursday, will not be penalized because, technically, the caucuses are not binding on convention delegates. Nevada, which plans to hold its caucuses on Jan. 19, will not be penalized for the same reason.
Besides the 12 delegates chosen at Saturday's county conventions, two delegates to be chosen at a statewide convention in May will also be sent to the national convention in Minneapolis.
Romney/Thompson. Strongest ticket.
Nope, its all over for Romney and Thompson (according to the media). Its all McVain and the Huckster.
Nobody else apparently either matters or has a chance. You can get anybody in the media to mention Thompsons name and you can’t get them to acknowledge Romneys win in WY means anything.
Thank God we have the media (Fox included) to tell us who we are going to be voting for.
I would love that!
I doubt Thompson would play second fiddle to that RINO.
If Thompson wins, I could see him wooing Romney to be VP by promising not to run for a 2nd term.
Whoever the nominee is, I see Tim Pawlenty, Minnesota Governor being a top tier nominee for VP.
For the third time today that I’ve seen!
R 8 T 3 H 1
I heard a rumor that after Mitt loses in New Hampshire he will drop out of the Presidential race and endorse Fred Thompson.
Stephanopolous said he thought Thompson had a great night.
Seems like I’ve seen it a dozen times today.
Best case scenario in my opinion. It would take the age issue off the table. It would bring the Romney organization and fundraising skills to the party.
Best of all, it would give Mitt four years as VP to prove his conservative bonafides. I see him as a decent guy but have to wonder whether the stuff that went on in the People's Republic of Massachusetts was really the best he could really do given the restrains of such a hopelessly ultraleft constituency.
In any case, you've got to love Wyoming. Rudi McHuckster didn't even place! And Duncan Hunter in third! Kudos to Wyoming!
lol depends on the RINO. Fred went after Mitt pretty hard but never challenged his Senate buddy John. A vote for Thompson is a vote for McCain in New Hampshire.
Hmmm,
Interesting combo-
-—For the third time today that I’ve seen!-—
Romney is winning over and over and over again! Go Mitt!
Congratulations to Duncan Hunter. It’s a start. Shame on the GOP for slashing Wyoming’s delegates. That was very DEMOCRATic of them.
Indeed. I love Hunter...the buzz in California is that we’re gonna run him for governor when Arnold is done.
He's probably too conservative to have a chance of winning there. His better bet would be to become a lobbyist for a defense contractor. If he wants to run for higher office, he probably needs to move.
Wow, there are a lot of rumors flying about. I heard when Hillary drops out she is gonna endorse Thompson. Who knew? With Mitts and Hillary's endorsement Freds got it made!
Regards
Maybe...but then again, illegal immigration is such a hot button issue, that he could be swept into power. We’ve got to run someone here anyway, so what the hell, we might as well run a real conservative, especially when his potential rival is the La Raza member, former ACLU counsel, ultra-leftist, mayor of L.A. Antonio Villaraigosa.
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